Using Account Matching

Once Account Matching has been set up, you are ready to use this feature. The setup process prepares Collect! to group accounts together according to the information you choose to share. This setup is very important because the settings are used whenever you create a new debtor that happens to match others, or whenever you add a debtor to a group. Please be aware that if you change your Account Matching settings at any time, debtors or groups created before changing the settings may not have these new settings.

There are three ways that Collect! uses the settings you have chosen in the Account Matching Setup form.

Account Matching During Data Entry

Collect! checks for matching accounts when an operator physically adds a new account to your database. When the new debtor is first created, the field labeled Name is active. After you enter a name in the Name field and attempt to leave the field, with the Tab key, Enter key, or by selecting the next field with your mouse, Collect! quickly scans the database searching for any other records with a name that matches what you have just entered. This happens very quickly. Collect! will present a list of accounts that closely match what you have entered. If no matches are found, you are simply allowed to proceed to the next field.

If a list of matches is presented to you, you have the opportunity to select an account from the list to group this new account to. Collect! displays enough information for you to know if you wish to group the debtor.

If you select CANCEL, you are simply allowed to proceed to the next field. If you select SELECT for an item highlighted in the list, then the debtor you just entered will be grouped to the selected account, and you can then proceed to enter data in the next field. The fields Collect! checks for matches are the fields you chose when you filled in the Account Matching Setup form. Therefore, automatic account matching action may occur when entering the name, address, phone number, SSN, driver's license and the other choices in the Account Matching Setup form.

Please be aware that every field you check for matches increases the time it takes to enter the data on this new account. You should try to check only the important fields and uncheck rarely used fields.

Please refer to Account Matching During Data Entry to see an example of this first method.

Account Matching Using Batch Processing

Collect! can check for matching accounts using its Batch Processing tools. This alternative is much faster and can handle thousands of accounts at a time.

Using the Batch Processing function, you follow prompts to help you group any number of accounts together provided they match on the settings you have selected for your matching criteria. You can pick one field or several fields to match on, such has Name and\or SSN and\or Driver's License. You can run this routine for the first time over all your debtors. After you have run this once, you would subsequently want to select only those debtors who have been listed since the last time you ran the process.

You can select the accounts to be grouped and then start the batch process, or, select the accounts when you reach the Select Accounts To Process form during the batch process.

Please refer to Account Matching Using Batch Processing for an example of this second method.

Account Matching After Import

Grouping accounts through batch processing is a great way to process imported accounts. Using this method, Collect! examines accounts and tries to group them together, setting the Debtor Group Member information according to the values you chose when you filled in the Account Matching Setup form.

When you run this batch after completing an import, all the imported accounts should be tagged for you already.

Please refer to Account Matching Using Batch Processing for an example of this method.

Account Matching By Manual Grouping

You may match accounts by manually grouping accounts. This is commonly used for grouping different people or companies together. This grouping is done while on the Debtor form. Select the button labeled Group to start a process of prompts and lists or forms for you to step through to add the Debtor account to a group.

When you use this method, Collect! groups the accounts together and sets the new debtor's group member information to the values set in the Account Matching Setup form.

Please refer to How To Group Debtors for an example of this third method.

See Also

- Matching Accounts
- Account Matching Setup